32

International adoptees demonstrate more behavioral problems than their non-adopted peers. The aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of both early adversity and the adoptive family on the psychological adjustment in adolescence of sixty-nine international adoptees (fifty-seven girls and twelve boys, with an average age of 15.02 years). The condition of the children was assessed on arrival in their adoptive family, in order to provide indices of early adversity. We also considered the parental stress of their adoptive mothers, the quality of the mother-child relationship, and behavioral problems and self-esteem in adolescence, based on mothers’ and adolescents’ reports. While the state of the children on arrival did have an impact on psychological adjustment in adolescence, variables related to their adoptive families were better predictors.